The present invention relates to a novel display device for small commodities such as sunglasses. More specifically this invention relates to a display device comprising one or more two sided rotatable columns each of which have a box-like outer part comprising twin parts, an S-shaped column insert adapted to be positioned inside said box-like outer part and a column support device adapted to rotatably support said one or more columns in one or more levels and reposition said one or more columns to predetermined positions at rest.
Various sunglass display devices have been used in the past. A substantial portion of the prior art devices support sunglasses in a configuration where the temple portions are closed. It has been our experience, however, that from the retail standpoint it is preferable to have the temple portions open while the sunglasses are displayed, because, the sunglasses being a fashion item, the temple portions have an important effect upon the overall appearance. It is cumbersome from the standpoint of the purchaser to take up a pair of sunglasses from a display rack, open the temples, inspect the sunglasses, close the temples and put the pair back into the display rack. It is very difficult to do the whole procedure with one hand and obviously it takes some time. After the purchaser goes through several of such procedures a mental fatigue or frustration starts to set in the mind of the purchaser, which is very detrimental to the sale of sunglasses.
In another type of sunglass display devices the sunglasses are displayed in a configuration where the temple portions are open, but the end portions of the temples rest in holes provided in the display device. Therefore, in order for the purchaser to put the sunglasses back into the display rack after inspection, the purchaser has to find the two holes into which the end portions of the temples have to be inserted. This process of finding the holes in order to rest the sunglasses at the right position is again cumbersome and hence is a disadvantage for retail purposes.
Needless to say, since the retail space in any given store is limited, it is desirable to have a sunglass display device which can accommodate a large number of sunglasses within a given space without creating a crowded impression or visual confusion between individual pairs of sunglasses.
It will be appreciated that it is desirable that the display device have a flexibility or capability to accommodate a variable number of display columns. This is true because suitable or desired number of commodities to be displayed varies from store to store and because it may also vary from season to season within a given store. It will also be appreciated that from the standpoint of a manufacturer of commodity display devices, it is desirable that various parts be common to several or many variations of the display device.
Needless to say, where a plurality of columns are arranged together within a display device, it is desirable that they be arranged in a coherent manner with respect to each other rather than in a random manner so that the overall appearence of the displayed commodities may be esthetic all the time. Thus, it is very desirable to have a means adapted for repositioning each column at rest so that each column is locked to a certain orientation with respect to other columns when it is resting at a stable position even though it is rotatable during the inspection of the commodities by the purchaser.
Thus, an object of this invention is to provide a commodity display device particularly useful for sunglasses which can accommodate a large number of sunglasses within a limited amount of space and which can display them in an esthetic manner without creating a crowded impression or visual confusion between individual pairs of sunglasses. Another important object of this invention is to provide a display device particularly useful for displaying sunglasses such that, for at least a substantial portion and preferably all of the sunglasses on display, a temple member of the sunglass frame is visible to the purchaser when the frame is resting on the display device. Another object of this invention is to provide a display device such that the sunglass frame can be removed from and put back to the display device easily with one hand. Still another object of this invention is to provide a display device comprising one or more two-sided rotatable "columns" having a means adapted for reposition the orientations thereof at rest. The term "column" as used in this invention is a display unit to be maintained substantially vertically in the display device which can accommodate one or more sunglass frames in each of a plurality of rows provided on the front and back faces thereof. Still another object of this invention is to provide, as a preferred embodiment of the invention, a display device which can accommodate display columns in more than one level. Other objects of this invention will become apparent from the description of this invention presented below.
Thus, according to the present invention, a display device is provided which allows sunglasses to be displayed with temples extended in an esthetic manner without taking up a lot of display space.
The present invention will be described below with a particular emphasis upon the display of sunglasses. However, it will be apparent that the applications of this invention are not limited to the display of sunglasses and that it can be applied to the display of other commodities as well.